Sunday, March 06, 2011

There he goes again

Like the first shoots of spring time trying to burrow through the soil, the quadrennial rites of New Hampshire are slowly stirring, led by the candidate who says he hasn't made up his mind.

We are awaiting the next Mitt Romney flip-flop, although the transition from a coy "maybe" to "I'm in" is one of the accepted frauds of politics. And for a non-candidate, Our Man Myth surely is enjoying a red letter day with front page attention in The Boston Herald and The New York Times.

Word to the wise -- pay more attention to the Tea Party Newsletter.

While Gray Lady chats up the political consultants, the Herald gets down into the grassroots with the folks who will actually vote in the Granite State in 11 months (or less). And it's not a terrific picture for the Winnipesaukee resident.

“Right now, it’s ABR — Anyone But Romney,” said Kevin McHugh, 38, a Salem Tea Party activist who just started the Facebook page “Mitt Romney and His Record,” which enumerates his flip-flops on health-care reform, taxes and abortion. “He’s got a lot of work to do.”

Ah yes, health care reform, the bete noire of the conservative movement and the latest in a seemingly endless stream of Romney um, position shifts. The man who brought the individual mandate to the table is now spinning furiously from his singular contribution to the debate.

It's hard to blame the Man from Michigan-Massachusetts-Utah-New Hampshire-California for his backpedaling. There is a huge target on his back right now, one that always accompanies a presidential primary front runner.

And its especially large right now in a field that contains Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich.

The Romney brain trust recognizes the Mittser has an advantage over the rest of the field: he actually knows what he's talking about (and not just because he's been on all sides). But in a field that will make the 1988 Democratic Seven Dwarfs seem like giants, they know he may have as many, if different, obstacles to overcome than that year's front-runner, Gary Hart.

And the major obstacle is winning over Tea Party partisans who haven't drunk the Kool-Aid who could sink the only viable GOP nominee. No matter what the paid guns for hire and national big foot political reporters say about it being too early.